South African Minister of State Security Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba makes it clear that while the Jewish community is under no particular threat, the department of state security takes seriously its mandate to protect the country’s citizens.

Lawyers are preparing criminal and civil charges following one of the darkest weeks of anti-Semitism in South Africa. There have been a slew of vile incidents that sent shock waves through the community.

The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

Dr Ali Bacher, former South African cricket captain and administrator, was one of the five recipients of the 2018 Steve Tshwete Lifetime Achievement Awards at the SA Sport Awards held in Bloemfontein on Sunday night.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

Late on Tuesday, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect. While at the time of writing the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) had still not confirmed the existence of such a truce, Israeli citizens living in the south of the country were told they could return home and to “normalcy”.

The Israeli gymnastics team was out in full force at 48th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships that began at Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday. There are five males and two females in the team headed by new Israeli sensation Artem Dolgopyat. The others are Alexander Shatilov, Ilan Korchak, Andrey Medvedev, and Michael Sorokine, while the women are Ofir Netzer and Meitar Lavy.

As I was heading home on Tuesday, I heard on ChaiFM that 460 rockets had been fired from Gaza into Israel since late Sunday. That is an outrageous number. If every one of them hit inhabited areas, thousands of Israelis would have been killed.

“The president is not directly responsible for acts of domestic terrorism, but he should be more careful with his language.” That’s the way the Economist headlined its report on the horrific Pittsburgh killings just more than two weeks ago.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

Fed, others slate attack, Hamas & Co rejoice

The South African Zionist Federation’s (SAZF) National Chairman Ben Swartz (pictured) condemned yesterday evening’s terrorist truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem early this morning. Read what others had to say as well…

by
ANT KATZ | Jan 09, 2017

“Latest outrage”

The South African Zionist Federation’s (SAZF) National Chairman Ben Swartz (pictured) condemned yesterday evening’s terrorist truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem early this morning. Read what others had to say as well…

The SAZF “strongly condemns the latest Terror attack against the people and State of Israel,” said Swartz in a statement to the community. “Yesterday, whilst of a group of IDF soldiers were disembarking from a bus in Jerusalem, a Palestinian terrorist used a truck to plough into the group at full speed -killing four and wounding eleven.”

Members of ZAKA search and rescue organization gather human remains for burial

This, said Swartz, is just the “latest outrage in a string of terrorist attacks that Israelis have endured over the last decade.” Weapons have included bombs, guns, knives and cars, Swartz told the SA Jewish community. “And now trucks,” he added.

Jubilation from Palestinian terrorist groups

HAMAS. the militant fundamentalist Islamic organisation in power in Gaza,praised the attack in a statement posted on the Facebook page of its spokesman. “The continuous operations in the West Bank and Jerusalem prove that the Jerusalem intifada is not an isolated event, but rather a decision by the Palestinian people to revolt,” the post read.

The moment the truck struck- SEE VIDEO
Other praises of the attack by Hamas included: "We bless the courageous and heroic truck operation in Jerusalem," the group tweeted. Fawzi Barhoum, the movement’s spokesperson, lauded the attack as a “courageous act in defence of the holy sites and especially Al Aqsa mosque.”

Barhoum added that the attack proves that the Israeli oppression “will only increase the determination of the Palestinian people to continue its heroic resistance in all its forms.”

Hamas welcomed the attack, saying the carnage is a “natural reaction” to the “crimes of the occupation,” and what the terrorist group claimed was the infringement on the “Palestinians’ rights” and their holy sites.

The Iran-backed ISLAMIC JIHAD said the deadly attack represented “a natural reaction to the crimes of the Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.”

Pro-Hamas journalist, Adham Abu Slamiyeh, tweeted a picture of Palestinians handing out sweets, with the following caption: “The sweets of the attack are in. Allah bless the men of Jabel Mukaber [the perpetrator’s home neighbourhood] that helped us redeem the spirit of Jerusalem.”

Israel’s response was unrelenting

Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU told reporters on the scenenot long after the attack that the driver who ploughed the truck into the group of young soldiers in Jerusalem, killing four and injuring many more, “may have been an ISIS sympathiser.” This seems to be the official stance at present but nobody has taken responsibility. It would also be the first successful attack by ISIS inside Israel.

Israeli Education Minister NAFTALI BENNETT slammed the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for its coverage of the attack. The BBC had initially published a headline focusing on the death of the truck “driver” who “allegedly” rammed into pedestrians. After Bennett’s complaint, the BBC’s main story on the attack now has a headline that reads: “Jerusalem attack: Four dead after lorry driver rams soldiers.”

Ben Swartz sums up the mood

Fed head Ben Swartz’ letter to the community reminded SA Jewry and Israelis living in SA that “as violence has engulfed the (Middle East) region, the Palestinian leadership continue to encourage and endorse these acts of terror.”

The world, said Ben, must “continue to stand together and condemn the hate and bigotry that fuel these heinous acts and take the lives of innocent people.”

The SAZF, he said, “extends our heartfelt condolences to the people of Israel and the families of Yael Yekutiel; Shir Hajaj; Shira Tzur and Erez Orbach as well as a speedy recovery to those injured.”

Swartz’ community statement ended with a message to all South Africans: “We call on all peace-loving South Africans to condemn all acts of terror as a method of intimidation and to encourage dialogue between all parties,” he said.

2 Comments

2
Choni
09 Jan

And, yesterday Jacob Zuma urged S.Africans not to visit Israel.
A word to the wise is sufficient.

1
nat cheiman
09 Jan

BDS & arab states ( incl SA) have been silent.
Silence is consent (or acquiesence) as they say.
"Free Palestine " is correctly depicted ( the meaning thereof) in the photo of a man holding up a poster reading " Free Palestine is code for Kill the Jews".
Until attitudes change, peace is but a figment.